Filene Project Aims to Assist Credit Unions 'Unprepared' to Harness Analytics

A new research project by consumer finance nonprofit Filene Research Institute aims to help credit unions more effectively manage data, including data security.

Filene, headquartered in Madison, Wis., announced the launch of the Center of Excellence for Data Analytics and the Future of Financial Services, a three-year research project on data gathering, storing, securing and analysis set to launch Sept. 1 under the guidance of a full-time fellow. The center’s work is intended to produce guidance for the consumer financial industry at large, and to “close the knowledge and practice” for credit unions that say they are not currently immersed in good data practices, according to the release.

“Credit unions that thrive this decade will develop strategies that meet changing consumer needs in response to new technology advancements,” George Hofheimer, Filene’s chief research and development officer, said in a statement. “In recent research, however, credit unions indicated they felt unprepared to operate in an industry that rewards excellence in data analytics. Therefore, this project aims to close this knowledge and practice gap for credit union data management, governance and analytics in order to thrive well into the 21st century and beyond.”

The project is funded by several credit unions, according to the announcement: Alliant Credit Union, America First Federal Credit Union, Kinecta Federal Credit Union, Michigan State University Federal Credit Union and Vizo Financial Corporate Credit Union.

Jay Murray, CEO of Vizo ($7.6 billion in assets), said in a statement that credit unions “have stayed firm to their mission of serving the needs of consumers, especially those of modest means, and for that reason, it is so important for us to support the goals of this research center and advance the prominence of credit unions in the financial services sector long into the future.”